Tariik
Tariik is a male human warrior and NPC in the Om campaign. Summary Tariik is an Umani warleader in service of Queen Aziza. He led an attack on the emerald mines held by the Brotherhood of the Coast to free Wyzad and the slaves held there and later led the force against the rebel Umani and pirates at the Battle at the Temple of Shadow and Light. He is presumed to have continued to serve in the queen's campaign to attempt to secure control of Socortia. Background Tariik was a warrior and when the old Umani king died supported his daughter Aziza against her cousin Akembe who also laid a claim to the throne. By 465 he had become a recognized warleader, however because Akembe's faction had allied with the pirates of the Brotherhood of the Coast, the war was going poorly for Aziza. Mission to Free Wyzad To help secure her hold on the throne and protect the land from the fae, a ceremonial ritual had to be performed at the Temple of Shadow and Light by the shaman Wyzad. Unfortunately he had been captured by Akembe's faction and sold into slavery to the Brotherhood of the Coast. In Dragon of 465, Aziza had received intelligence that Wyzad was in the emerald mines being forced to dig the gems from the earth. Aziza ordered Tariik to organize a raid to free him. As they were organizing their forces the Royal Explorers arrived and, reporting that they had freed several slaves from the pirates stronghold in Darsah and burned their ships in port. The Explorers warned that the pirates were about to secure an alliance with Orlesea, and offered their aid in freeing Wyzad and also attempting to thwart the alliance. Aziza accepted and ordered Tariik to take some of their number, Noel Gorehammer, Fernith, Wu Xen and the umani Jubal with him. On the 25th of Dragon, 465, the Umani war party reached the mines. Tariik led an attack at a supply post a mile from the mines to lead most of the defenders there. Meanwhile Noel, Fern, Wu and Jubal sneaked into the mines to free the both the Umani slaves and those taken from passing ships and enslaved. The battle was a success and Tariik pushed the pirates back to the caves themselves, where they got caught between Tariik's force and the freed slaves and slain to a man. Wyzad was rescued, but lamented that he could not perform the ritual because he had been corrupted by an ancient Irda artifact. Battle at the Temple of Shadow and Light Tariik immediately led the force of his warriors and the freed slaves to the Temple of Shadow and Light where they found a large force of Akembe's Umani and pirates gathered against them to stop them from accessing the temple. Fortunately they were met by the rest of the Royal Explorers and a force of centaurs led by Atrayu. Tariik and Atrayu's forces engaged the enemy, buying enough time for Wyzad and the Royal Explorers to sneak to the Temple of Shadow and Light and perform the ritual in question. Since Wyzad couldnot perform the ritual, he instructed Jasper Conroy and Fynnhannar how to do so. The ritual was performed successfully but had drawn the attention of the minotaur pirate captain Zarrilak who split off from the main force and attacked. Wyzad held them off, instructing the Explorers to delve into the temple to find the fabled weapon to aid the queen. The explorers emerged a short time later with five immense golems under their control. The golems smashed into the enemy rear, and Akembe's rebels and the pirates swiftly crumbled under the onslaught of them and Tariik's forces and either fled or were slain. Alliance with Gildorn With the golems in hand, and the momentum of the victory at the Battle at the Temple of Shadow and Light, Queen Aziza was able to defeat Akembe and the pirates in a number of small engagements and push them ever closer to Darsah, the pirate stronghold. Tariik fought in many of these engagements, leading ever larger forces of warriors. However, as time went by the golems became more difficult to control and two of them had ceased to function altogether. Worse, by this time a large force of Orleseans had arrived, reinforcing Akembe and the Brotherhood of the Coast, allowing most of Aziza's successes to be rapidly nullified in the enemy counterattacks. Things were looking dim again for the loyalist Umani, when help came in the form of some familiar faces. In late Gatekeeper of 465 Jubal and Leandra returned to Zaros. Jubal had been made Gildorn's ambassador to Socortia and he explained that Gildorn had a squadron of ships ready to destroy the Orlesean ships that had arrived and troops to help kill Aziza's enemies, however in order to do this Aziza would have to sign an alliance with Gildorn. Left with little choice, she quickly did so. Tariik fought on the land portion of the resulting Battle of Socortia which saw the Gildornian squadron soundly defeating the Orlesean ships and landing men to mop up the now stranded Orlesean and pirate land forces on the island. Though there was still some of the enemy hiding in the jungle and continuing to fight, Socortia seemed to be in Aziza's control at last. Tariik worked alongside Jubal and Leandra as they organized and led war parties to continue to scour the jungle to wipe out the pirates, rebel Umani and Orleseans. Category:Om Category:Characters Category:NPCs